Is that we write poetry, Sue, for aggrandisement? Sure it would be nice to
be recognised but somehow I think it would alter the way I write and the
things I write about. Arthur
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sue Scalf" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2003 4:00 PM
Subject: Re: Show or tell - (Ann)


> In a message dated 03/28/2003 9:05:47 AM Central Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> <<  For instance I should be hard pushed to think of a pop lyric that
would
>  compete with Donne's  'gold to airy thinness beat'. >>  The closest I can
> come would be a distance.  Simon and Garfunkel (remember them?) had some
good
> lyrics, and one of my favorite lines is
> "The silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky" by Hank Williams.
But
> most popular music is more  like poopular.  The same goes with 95 percent
of
> the poetry I read today.  It is really hard to cull out the bad and find a
> poet whose work you can almost always appreciate.  But  it is worth the
> effort.  The fact is that most of the few people who read today (and there
> not as many as there used to be)  just don't like modern poetry, and that
is
> a fact.  If it were popular, we would once in a while make the best seller
> lists, but that is rare.  Even then it is probably because the poet has a
> name like "Jewel" or has been on certain American radio programs.  Few
care
> about it at all.  Ah, well, maybe in a hundred years our day will come.
Sue